5500 to blow on a engine swap/RB20 daily driver?'s

[240sxApocalypse]

Im new to these forums and have just gotten my 240sx with 140.xxx miles for $500 . I have 5500 to invest into this car (preferably an engine swap so i can turbo the motor).It needs to be reliabe because it will be a daily driver. I have searched around these forums for about a year but i have not come to a final choice. Right now i am leaning toward a rb20det. I have axxes to tools but would not be doing any of the swap myself (no place to do it ) what would you do im ny situation.

ps:plz do not flame me if thes topic has already been coverd

[240sxApocalypse]

i am thinking about geting a rb20 but dont know if it would be a good daily driven car. If not what is a better way to go i have $5500 to spend and want a turbo car.

[rb26tommy]

well if i want a dd car i would go with a 240sx with and sr or kat which ever u like out of the two. well the cost to fix an sr an kat is cheaper to fix then an rb if u had problem down the line and u can get parts really easy to. but i will go with one of those then an rb20 imo. is that all u have to spend 5500 rb are more then that.

[CursedGTR]

Personally, I would turbo the KA and try to stay within my budget if I was you. But if 5500 is a starting point and you got the cabbage for the labor and all I would go with RB. That is just me. The price tag is alot higher than what appears on paper though, so buyer beware. Good Luck

[002-M-P]

If you have 5500 that you want to "blow" on an engine swap...give it to me

In all seriousness though, don't just jump into it. Read the boards and figure out what it is that you want that fits into that budget...have fun.

[Shocker]

better get an rb20.. because even if you manage to get a 25 in your car for that much, you will have nothing left, and theres a good possiblity you will be missing some items I'd have replaced before putting her in.

[Darius]

Most RB swaps require "big boy money" and $5500 is not what I would consider "big" with respect to these motors. It can be done but there are a lot of hidden costs that add up fast.

[Carl H]

it will be as good as the install.we swapped a rb20 into a friends s14 over a year ago and he has since logged 36,000 miles on it it and it has never left him stranded.

[Carl H]

guys its really hard to properly turbo a ka...5k might get it in and running but how well done it will be is a diffrent story...rb20 is a good motor, and most of the time they are well taken care of and in good nic because they were in grandma's grocery getter and not in some kids doriftomatic s13/s14.

[matafied]

Yea that small stuff adds up fast! Ive done a 25 swap for under 5k but that was me doing all the work, wiring etc. and not replacing anything as far as water pump, timing belt, etc. (it was for my cousin) you better take your time and weigh it out. I know if I had to do it over I would just swap in a sbc! GIT-R-DONE

[madcowvert]

$5500 and a rb20, you could be able to get it done but you would need to do the work your self!! because paying someone just cuts into the funds and if you want to build it right that budget will not make it.

[Gold Digger]

If he got the car for $500, I am pretty sure he is going to need some suspension parts. I would invest a good chunk of that cash into making sure the suspension and brakes are up to snuff. Nothing like forkin $5k into a $500 car only to have the suspension and/or brakes fail and have the car wrapped around a tree, telephone pole, or worse yet, someone walking down the street.

My $.02

EDIT: Merged your two threads so all your info is in this one.-Neal

[USMCgetsome]

bro, go sr and build it up. internals only. Then next year do the big turbo and intercooler and so on. very cheap! you'll end up spending at least 7-8000 to do everything you want. i did mine for 5500 which was motorset, mounts and axle and someone to install. then i got it back and wanted to turbo it good fluid changes. new blow off valve. it adds up easily. do the sr and be happy. you'll love the damn thing.

[240sxApocalypse]

i got the car for 500 beacuse my moms friend had just died and the car had no place to go. the suspension and brakes had just been redone because he had gotten it from an auction and was planing ao racing it. Its has jic coilovers and big brake kit so from what i see its ok in that area.

[Shahee1]

I was at the same point a few years ago ... I never had myrb20 go out on me and you can get the swap done and in the car for much less than 5k ... butI would not turbo the KA unless I dropped some forged pieces in it ... you will spend some or close to 5k shoring up the motor for foced induction ... rb20 is really cheap too ... best bang for your buckoutside of ca18 before prices started going up on that motorset ...

[klh6686]

just to make sure things are clear, you can see 300whp +- 100whp on stock internal KA's w/ proper tuning. Too bad most turbo KA's tune w/ SAFC.

[wawazat8402]

I was about to say, there are a few guys local to me that had no problems at 350+whp on a stock internal KA. The shop that originated the DSM ECU swap is also local to me. They had no problems til they decided to bump the rev limit up a little.

Also, an SR is a very good route to go as well. My friends SR gets a little over 30mpg on the highway. He has had no major failures or been stranded and its goes to drift events at least once a month through the entire season. Cant beat that.

[MOB240]

rb20<rb25

[jobestudios]

If you want to be fast, cheap and reliable, get a KA and turbo it. Nobody had better say "they aren't a originally turboed motor so they won't be reliable. Anyone who is worth a damn will tell you that's bull****. The fact that you have RB owners telling you to go another route should be reason enough. It's a pain in the *** to own an rb and it's expensive.

[Carl H]

i honestly dont believe that...sure if you are ghetto and skimp on parts its 'cheap' to build a turbo ka but it wont look good or function well at all.heres a pic of a turbo ka build i just finished...and trust me it wasnt cheap.

always remember cheap, fast, or reliable pick 2.

[wawazat8402]

99% of the time Carl, I would agree with you. However, a good friend of mine had his turbo'd for about 2 years. He put about 3000 into the car for the shell, turbo, and everything else. Ran deep 12s on that setup til his built motor was finished and he decided to see how many rpms a stock KA could take. He disappointed a lot of people on the weekends with that car.

BTW, the answer to the amount of RPMs seems to be 8k, hahahaha.

[klh6686]

Carl, you know you're friend could've gone t25 or t28 w/ a bottome mount manifold. I'm sure that manifold + t3/t4 + custom DP cost 1k+ (figuring 300+ for mani, 650+ for turbo) anyways if you want a cheap ka setup, look for a bottom mount mani that positions the turbo in the place of a SR turbo, use SR turbo elbow, DP, Hotpipe, hell EVERYTHING and you come out cheap, fast, and w/ a good tune reliable.

[Carl H]

stock sr turbine doesnt flow nearly enough air for the ka, .4 liters more displacement results in a car that has full boost by 2500 and runs out of puff by 5500...not much fun imho its supercharger esque.for anyone trying to generate more than 250whp a t25 based setup wont work too well...well, thats my opinion.fwiw the manifold used on that car is a peak boost mani, so ~ 800$ for the manifold and 400$ for the turbo.the real issue i have with ka-t is there is not much interms of management, the stuff out there kinda sucks in my opinion.if i were to do ka-t i would run it off of a sr power fc and convert the car to DIS.

[wawazat8402]

The DSM ecu setup gets rid of the distributor as well. They are also easy to ROM tune.

BTW, not trying to be argumentative at all, just offering up some stuff I have seen work on local cars in regards to concerns brought up here.

[Carl H]

eh dsm management on a nissan, i had heard of it being done but making a sr ecu fit is alot easier.

[wawazat8402]

That is prob true, however, the local shop that started it is primarily DSM so it was way cheaper than an SR ecu and harness plus the chip.

Just like the guys that run it say, it was a really cheap option for them, but it may notbe so if you have to search salvage yards, ebay, etc to find all the stuff for it.

[cvc9216]

drive it up to me in MD and I'll drop an RB20 in it for you. A mildly moded RB20 will be just as reliable as any other engine. $5500 prob isn't enough for a 25. Or I can drop a 1JZ in it, or an SR20. you can reach me on AIM or email if you're interested

[Imissmyturbo]

For 5500 I will install my RB25 setup into your car. Just bring the car, highflow fuel pump, and a Turbo (t3/t4 atleast a 50 trim) to me let me have the car for the weekend and drive off home. It has Power FC/s15 injectors, FMIC all the stuff you need to get going including the R33 cluster.